Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer received fierce backlash on Thursday as he defended his country’s Operation Protective Edge offensive on Gaza during a Twitter Q&A.

According to the latest Pew Research polling on the ongoing conflict between
Israelis and Palestinians, Americans still heavily lean toward
sympathizing with Israel. Yet Dermer urged those who oppose
Israel's military actions to ask him any questions so he could
clarify his government's position. So they did, but the result
was probably not the one that Dermer expected.

What response do you expect when you steel my land, destroy my
house and kill my kids? #AskDermer

Israel’s offensive on Gaza that has killed 220 Palestinians as of
Wednesday, 80
percent of which have been civilians, according to the United
Nations. Meanwhile, only one
Israeli has died as a result of rockets shot into Israel.

#AskDermer trended worldwide on Thursday, as a significant number
of questions related to the four
Palestinian children killed Wednesday on a Gaza beach by
shelling from Israeli Defense Forces.

Dermer largely steered clear of tough questions. Some of the more
substantive of his answers in the session regarded settlements
rights of Jews and Palestinians, and claims of Israeli genocide
of Palestinians.